12 Biographical Memoir of the late Friedrich Hoffmann. 



meter of about 800 feet, and was upwards of 60 feet in height. 

 Hoffmann, the moment he received intelh'gence of this rare 

 phenomenon, hastened to Sciacca, the nearest sea-port, and, on 

 the 24th July, in company with his companions in a small 

 boat, he approached the new volcano as closely as could possibly 

 be allowed by the rapidly succeeding eruptions. Even Sicily 

 received the first accurate description of this natural phenome- 

 non from our author. The voyage in the portion of the Medi- 

 terranean between Sicily and Africa, caused by this occurrence, 

 was extended to Pantellaria, lying more towards the African 

 coast ; and that small, entirely volcanic island, was carefully 

 examined. On the 25th September, the party visited, for the 

 second time, the new volcano ; which, in the mean time, had 

 been extinguished, and could, therefore, now be investigated 

 close at hand. The storms and waves combined to destroy the 

 newly formed island ; and, in the following winter, it entirely 

 vanished beneath the sea. Hoffmann's geognostical labours in 

 Sicily were concluded in Christmas by a voyage to the Lipari 

 Islands, where he was detained for some time by contrary 

 winds. Finally he sailed from Messina to Naples in February 

 1832, after a residence of seventeen months in Sicily. 



He returned just in time to witness an eruption of Vesuvius, 

 which commenced on the 22d February 1832. It was most 

 fortunate that this eruption, on the one hand, was considerable 

 enough to afford a clear example of such phenomena, and yet, 

 on the other, was so moderate as to admit of a very near ap- 

 proach, which, if not free from danger, was at least not extremely 

 perilous. The interest with which Hoffmann regarded the won- 

 derful and classical country of Lower Italy, was immeasurably 

 heightened by the information he had acquired, during his ex- 

 tensive and minute survey of Sicily. He looked with longing 

 eyes to Calabria, and to the Greek islands, whither so many 

 temptations invited him, and where his newly acquired know- 

 ledge would have opened the most inviting paths. It was only 

 the unavoidable necessity of returning to his official duties in 

 his native country that forced him to make the ruins of Paestum 

 the limit of a journey so replete with enjoyment. As, with a 

 heavy heart, he tore himself from Naples in the month of 



